An Introduction to Selling at Mastery pot

An Introduction to
Selling at Mastery
By Jim Masson
Author of
Getting Paid is Good!!
$$$
copyright 2012, Jim Masson
Smashwords Edition
all rights reserved
This ebook is licensed for your personal use only.
It may not be altered or recopied
without the written consent of the author.
However,
If you would like to share this book with another others,
as sincerely hope you will,
please direct them to download their own free copy
.at
Thank You.
$$$
Cover design by:
Gianni Grando
In-Print Graphic Design and Printing
Nanaimo B.C. Canada
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Forward
Chapter 1: Defining a Master Professional Salesperson.
Chapter 2: W hat the role of a Master Professional Salesperson is
and What the Role is Not.
Chapter 3: Who puts up the most obstacles to the sale?

Chapter 4: Some of the self limiting behaviors some salespeople
engage in and why they do so.
Chapter 5: The deepest underlying motivator that virtually every buyer
brings to the table when they make any purchase.
$$$
Acknowledgements
First, I want to thank my wife, Wanda for taking significant time from her own
work to help me with the editing and proofing of this body of work. Her eyes
caught many errors in my original document and her unique prospective
helped me adjust my dialogue to improve elements of communication. I am
truly grateful.
This material has been brought together as a culmination of knowledge
obtained in over forty five years in the sales and service profession.
Throughout that time, I had many teachers. There were those who employed
me. There were my early managers. There were my fellow salespeople.
There were my employees. There were those who I was privileged to
manage. They all shared their knowledge with me. There were outside sales
trainers and authors who provided insights for me to examine. And, of
course, there were my customers who taught me what I needed to do to serve
and sell at mastery. To all, I am extremely grateful.
About the Author
Jim Masson is a businessman, author, sales trainer and sales consultant with
a selling career that spans over 45 years. He has sold and managed the sale
of millions and millions of dollars worth of products and services. Plus, he
spent many of those years, training salespeople to function as master
professionals while helping to build award winning sales teams.
Jim began his selling career while still in high school. While working part time
for a full line General Motors dealership in a small town in Northern Ontario,
Canada, he sold a pre-owned car at only seventeen years of age. He was
pleasantly surprised when rewarded with a commission for that sale. It the

first of many, and he discovered that getting paid for his efforts was indeed,
very, very good!
After attending Algonquin College Business Campus in Ottawa, Canada's
capital, he had a successful selling career with large automotive dealerships
there, before relocating with his wife Wanda to Vancouver, British Columbia,
in the early 1980s. There, Jim partnered for almost ten years in an
automotive services business.
After selling his interest in that business, Jim resumed his automotive career
as Sales Manager and Sales Trainer with major automobile dealerships that
achieved new levels of sales and customer satisfaction success. A number of
sales people who he helped train have become nationally recognized as
Sales Leaders and Sales Masters and several were promoted to Sales
Management positions themselves.
Jim has always recognized the tremendous need for professionalism in the
selling industry and affordable training in all areas of selling and customer
service. In order to share his extensive experience and success with those
pursuing a career in the selling profession, Jim initially wrote his book,
"Getting Paid is Good!!'' He has also offered live sales training seminars to
both sales novices and seasoned pros. through school board sponsored
Continuing Education classes on Vancouver Island, where he and Wanda
make their home
Now, he is very pleased to present to you, “An introduction to Selling at
Mastery”along with a link to “Selling at Mastery” These powerful ebooks are
a compilation of all the material that was initially presented over forty hours in
his live, bootcamp style seminar presentations, plus additional strategies,
tools and concepts.
These ebooks have one defining purpose. That is, to provide effective and
affordable Profession Development Training for individuals, business owners
and sales managers, wishing to either upgrade their own selling skills or to
train salespeople for a better future by learning how to sell as a master

professional.
$$$
Forward
First and foremost, thank you for choosing “An introduction to Selling at
Mastery”. I applaud you for taking the first step in taking charge of boosting
your selling career and your income. If you are just considering entering a
selling career, or actually have been selling for some time, be prepared to
start unlocking your full potential, both in terms of earnings and in terms of
how you will look at yourself in your day to day living.
As you read through this ebook, I will try to present the material in a
conversational style as it is based on my live workshop training sessions. I
will also try to anticipate questions and answer them at the appropriate times.
I hope this helps you to gain the maximum benefits from the concepts and
strategies offered here.
So that you will know what to expect and in order for you to receive the
maximum benefit out of the strategies, concepts and tools which I am going to
share with you here, I would like to begin by making a few suggestions.
>>> Grab yourself a note pad, so that you can jot down ideas that you might
want to think about later without having to wade back through the all the
material right away
>>> Try to read in a quite environment. You will retain more each time you
read a concept.
>>> Try to keep an open mind. Some ideas will be totally new to you. If they
are not, I’m not doing my job. So, rather than trying to judge a strategy or
concept as being right or wrong based on your current knowledge, consider
just thinking in terms of “ what works and what doesn’t work”.
>>> Get excited! You are about to learn things that can change your life and
help you get paid at higher levels once you put these concepts and strategies
into action on a daily basis.
>>> Make a commitment to yourself to put your newly found knowledge into

practice just as soon as you can. Do you remember that old expression, “Use
it or lose it”?
>>> Do yourself a favor; reread this ebook often. This will help to
permanently drive the points deep into your subconscious where they will
serve you as productive habits.
While I initially developed my material, it was primarily to train and coach
salespeople who work either on commission, partly on commission or who
strive for production bonuses. However, there are so many concepts, tools
and strategies that will also be of tremendous help to those working for hourly
wages in retail settings or in service sectors, even restaurant servers who are
looking to be the best they can be and get promoted in their chosen field. In
fact, I believe some of the life skill concepts shared here and in Selling at
Mastery will be of significant benefit to most people who read them. OK, let’s
get started.
$$$
Chapter 1
Defining a Master Professional Salesperson
The need for really good and very affordable sales training is enormous in the
selling field today.” Why did I make that statement? I had too, because the
proof is all around us. It is the reason I have chosen to write the “Selling at
Mastery” material. The selling profession is badly broken right now.
Business, salespeople and consumers are all paying the price for this.
Hopefully, I can help the salespeople and sales managers work at a much
more professional level. If these concepts and tools make any difference for
them, everyone, including the customers will win in a big way.
Generally, the overall perception of salespeople in today’s marketplace is
actually a nasty extremely one. Don’t you agree? We, as salespeople, are
rated by society, as a profession at the bottom of the heap. We rank right
there with corrupt politicians, lawyers, crooked auto mechanics and members
of the so called oldest profession. You know who I mean.

Now, if you really think about it, selling is the world’s oldest profession. Just
be aware that the products or services which salespeople offer vary
considerably. If you are now a salesperson, you know the reputation I’m
talking about, don’t you? If you are considering selling as a career choice,
that nasty reputation probably scares you a bit, or maybe even a lot.
Here is good news however. You can actually turn that horrible reputation of
the average salespeople in the marketplace into an awesome advantage for
yourself. You will totally understand this concept in just a minute. Another of
my ebooks, “Selling at Mastery”, is just loaded with all the tools necessary to
make that happen.
The fact is, the marketplace didn’t just lay this bad rap on salespeople for the
heck of it. The joke writers for Letterman and Leno aren’t out to get us.
Government and industry regulators don’t write laws against certain sales
practices just to pass the time or justify their existence. No, it is because
many people in the selling industry have seemingly painstakingly built this bad
reputation over the years. In my opinion, those people, both the salespeople
and their managers, truly deserve every insult that is hurled in their direction.
I will guarantee you this. We all have had encounters with sales people who
were underhanded, rude, liars, incompetent, uncaring, etcetera and etcetera
again. Hey, sometimes you will find all of these traits in just one individual.
But in spite of these flaws, some consumers actually buy things from these
people and the salesperson stereotype continues to grow. That’s the bad
news. I don’t like bad news.
So let's look at the good news. Actually it’s not just good, it’s really great
news! Not all our personal experiences with sales people have been bad. In
fact, some have been a downright pleasure, haven’t they?
I’d like you to carefully think about those buying experience for a moment.
Perhaps one of those great experiences was created by a salesperson who
helped you buy your vehicle or your home. Or, perhaps you were really
helped by a salesperson who matched you up with the perfect television or

computer. Maybe someone helped you plan your perfect vacation or created
a nice dining experience. If they did a masterful job, chances are that you
never looked at them as a stereotypical salesperson, did you?
My point is simply this, in spite of all the bad salespeople out there, there are
plenty of average ones and there are some truly masterful ones. So, if you
choose to sell for a living, you can also choose where you will fit in to the
industry. You can be the masterful salesperson,or you can settle for just
being the average. Or, you might even decide to be the nasty stereotypical
salesperson. It is absolutely a matter of personal choice.
Here is a critical marketplace fact. When a consumer encounters a bad
salesperson, he or she might buy one time, but then they will generally shun
that salesperson and the organization the salesperson works for in the future.
This is because he customer sees the salesperson and the organization as
being one and the same.
The flip side is, when consumers find a great salesperson, they will buy and
they will generally buy again and again from the salesperson and the
organization that the salesperson works for. Because, they too are seen as
being one and the same! Isn't that true?
You know it is true, because as a consumer, you behave exactly in this
manner. We all do. We all have our favorite places to do business and we
choose to go back over and over again. The underlining reason is that the
person or people that we deal with there have created a great feeling in our
minds. They have created the right experience. Burn that truth into your
memory right now, it is critical to your success. I’ll even repeat it.
We all have our favorite places to do business and we choose to go back over
and over again. The underlining reason is that the person or people that we
deal with there have created a great feeling in our minds. They have created
the right experience.
So, now let’s look at the definition of a master professional salesperson.
Simply stated, the word professional is used to define someone who is paid to

do what they do. The sports world makes great distinction between amateur
and professional.
However, using that basic definition would bestow professional status on
every loser salesperson that you have ever met. That is clearly not going to
work for my definition of a master professional salesperson. My trusty
thesaurus expands the definition of professional to include adjectives such as,
expert, specialized, qualified, proficient, skilled, trained and accomplished.
Those traits certainly separate the masters from the average and the nasty,
don't they?
Since we all know that a salesperson is a seller of goods, services or ideas,
my definition of master professional salesperson therefore becomes, “A very
well paid, trained and qualified expert who is proficient and skilled in the
helping people acquire goods, services and ideas which meet the
customer's needs wants, all while functioning at the highest level of
personal integrity.”
Does one automatically become “master professional” because that person
has graduated as a doctor, dentist or lawyer? I don't think so. In the same
way, calling yourself a professional salesperson does not make you a
professional salesperson.
A master professional is someone who is committed to being the best he or
she can be. A master professional takes the time to obtain the education,
training and expertise necessary to do the job in an outstanding way. An
average performer or an amateur doesn’t invest in him or herself and is
doomed to be frustrated with their performance and their paychecks. A
master in any profession is vastly different when compared to the average
and less than average members of their group.
A master professional constantly continues to learn his or her trade. I know a
lot of salespeople who’ve been drifting around in the selling business for 20
plus years, usually from job to job. Sales managers have a term for these
folks, They are referred to as “Rounders” because they just seem to go

around and around. You might even know some of these people yourself.
These salespeople will tell you that they have over twenty years of
experience, but do they really? Have they continued to learn, improve their
skills or challenge themselves? Probably not They only do the minimum to
get by and quite frankly, some don’t even do that.
The salesperson who has been selling for twenty years but never really
improved or learned any new skills might just have six month’s worth of
experience that has gone around and around forty times. My job here is to
add concepts and tools to help you as you become a true master professional
salesperson.
I think there are two main reasons why selling has such a nasty image in the
public eye. The first is the fact that virtually anyone can call him or herself a
salesperson, regardless of qualifications and the second is the totally
underhanded methods that some salespeople choose to use.
First let’s look at the fact that anyone can be called a salesperson. Let’s
consider this:
>>> Doctors need to get trained and pass exams to be called a Doctor.
>>> Dentists need to get trained and pass exams to be called a Dentist.
>>> Engineers need to get trained and pass exams to be called an Engineer.
>>> Accountants need to get trained and pass exams to be called an
Accountant
>>> Airline pilots need to get trained and pass exams to be called an Pilot.
You get my point, don’t you? Sadly, there is no such mandated requirement
to enter the sales field. But wait, it gets worse. In all those other professions
there is also the requirement for ongoing training in order to maintain their
credentials.
Now before anyone gets excited and all distracted by pointing out that certain
selling niches do have certification and ongoing professional development
requirement, such as real estate, securities, and insurance, etc. the vast
majority of selling positions do not. In fact, most mandatory licences and

training cover regulations, not sales and selling relationship skills.
The governing bodies for doctors, accountants, engineers and most of the
other professions will pull the credentials of those who don’t continue to invest
in their education and personal growth.
But, it’s not like that in most areas of sales field, is it? There isn’t a mandated
requirement to continue learning the skills of the trade. As a result, many
salespeople just show up to and try to wing it. Then, they and their managers
are left wondering why they are achieving far less than stellar results.
Can you imagine what would happen in the marketplace if all salespeople
applied the same effort and time into professional development as members
of other professions do. The results would be incredible. Unfortunately, right
now, those salespeople who actively practice ongoing professional
development, represent a very small percentage of the total number of people
in the sales field.
Those who do work on improving their skills do enjoy successes far and
above those who chose not to try to better themselves. This fact gives you a
great advantage in the industry because, if you are committed to professional
development, followed by putting what you learn into action, you will propel
yourself to the top of the profession.
I often smile, just a little, when people tell me that they are hesitant to sell for
a living. Why are they hesitant? They think there is no security in selling,
especially in commissioned selling. That is quite funny actually. I ask you, is
there really much more security anywhere else?
The fact is that you really have much more security as a master salesperson
than you do in most other career choices. This is because, if you are highly
skilled and are dedicated, if you possess unwavering integrity, you will be in
high demand and could choose to sell virtually anything, anywhere, provided
you acquire the proper product knowledge. Master sales professionals are
capable of selling any product, any service or any idea as long as they are
passionate and believe in what they are being asked to sell

Beyond the poor training, the second reason the profession takes such a bad
rap is the underhanded behavior of so many salespeople. By that I mean,
they have the characteristic that so many consumers despise in the
marketplace today.
You might be asking, “Where does this bad behavior come from?” In a small
number of cases it may stem from a basic dishonest nature on the part of the
salesperson. But I believe that the majority of bad behavior comes from two
distinct sources. The first source is the lack of proper training which leads to
salespeople just winging it in the approach they use when interacting with
their customers. Additionally, there is the fear of not earning enough money
on the part of the salesperson. This fear often leads to some underhanded
and desperate behavior in order to make the sale happen.
You should understand that the famous 80/20 rule definitely applies in the
selling field This means approximately twenty percent of the salespeople
earn almost eighty percent of the overall money earned. Of course the
corollary of that statement is that means eighty percent of the salespeople are
left scrambling for the other twenty percent which generates some pretty
disgusting behavior from many of those salespeople. We see it every day in
the marketplace, don’t we?
Studies show that salespeople who are in the top twenty percent in their field
consistently earn five to twenty times more than those who are in the bottom
twenty percent. This means that money is no longer the biggest worry in their
lives. As a result, they do not need to resort to underhanded behaviour in
order to close a sale.
Now, as you can see, you can take full advantage of the poor reputation of the
industry by choosing to rise above the common stereotype by learning to sell
at mastery. One of the main supporting pillars of an exceedingly prosperous
selling career is proper ongoing training.
Back in the last century, Anatole France, winner of a Noble prize in literature
once said. “An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory or

even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you
know and what you don’t”.
Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, “If a man empties his purse into his
head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always
pays the best interest.”
And to that I would add, “If you think education and training is expensive or
time consuming, just take a moment to consider the cost of ignorance.
In chapter 2, I will explore what the role of a master professional salesperson
is and what it isn’t. I think you will find it very interesting. It might even
surprise you.
$$$
Chapter 2
What the Role of a Master Professional Salesperson is
and What the Role is Not.
I mentioned above, that you might be surprised with what I would share here.
Well, let’s see if you actually are?
Let me ask you this very simple question to consider. In your opinion, what
do you think the primary job of a master professional salesperson is, given the
information you now possess?
Now, I would like you to take a minute and write your answer on your notepad
before you proceed read any further. Your answer will ultimately be important
to you because it will serve as your benchmark as you move forward on your
journey towards selling at mastery, if that is your career goal. Remember and
understand this particular concept. Whatever answer you write down will be a
reflection of the information you have gathered to this point in your life and
career.
Stated another way, it will be the result of your conditioning, either the
conditioning you’ve done to yourself or the conditioning applied to you by
others but still accepted by yourself. Get used to my discussions of the
concept of conditioning. You will see it mentioned a good deal in my writings.

Have you finished writing your answer? If you have, then we can carry on.
A few years back, I conducted a little non scientific survey to help me
determine what people thought the job of a master salespeople actually
consisted of. I asked both salespeople and customers just what they
believed. I probably interviewed about fifty people altogether consisting of ten
salespeople and about forty customers. I certainly will concede that this was
not a huge sampling as far as surveys go, but overall the results I received
were surprisingly consistent.
Among the salespeople I interviewed, eight simply said their job was to sell
lots of stuff for the company. The other two thought about the question in a
totally different manner. They said, essentially, their job was to help their
customers select the proper product by giving them the appropriate
information in order to aid them in making an informed, positive buying
decision.
On real reflection, virtually without exception, the customers who were
interviewed told me they believed that salespeople should simply provide the
information the customer needs to make the buying decision and then some
also added that they wanted the salesperson to help the customer justify why
they should buy the product, service or proposal.
When I asked them if that was what they had come to expect when dealing
with salespeople, the majority told me that they felt most salespeople they had
interacted with simply wanted to make a sale as quickly as possible. That is
very interesting, isn’t it?
Now, I invite you to go back and read what it was that you wrote down as your
definition of a master professional salesperson. How does it compare to my
survey results?
Let me ask you now, of the ten salespeople who I surveyed, who do you think
were the highest money earners, the two or the group of eight? I suspect that
you didn’t have to think long about that one, did you? The results weren’t
even close. The two each earned as much as any four of the others

combined. But that wasn’t the most interesting part. One of these top
earners was a master professional with fifteen years selling experience. The
other was a total rookie with less than a year under her belt but she was
master professional none the less.
That little survey really excited me because it reinforced once again, a fact
which I already knew. Success, for a person who is new to selling, doesn’t
need to be viewed as being years away. It can develop very quickly indeed.
I would strongly suggest that your personal definition of the job description of
a master salesperson should be aligned with the two individuals not the with
the group of eight. Clearly, the two very successful salespeople had their
views totally aligned with their customers’ views and that choice is getting
them very well paid. And quite frankly, “Getting Paid is Good!!”, isn’t it?
Now I’d like to throw in my thought of what the number one job of a master
professional salesperson is. It’s pretty darn simple. “GET PAID!!”. Wow, can
you hear me now? Yes, I said “get paid”, because absolutely everything you
do as a master professional salesperson should be to that end. Don’t you
agree? That statement is not at all at odds with what either those top two
salespeople said, nor is it at odds with what the various customers said.
Now, with that comment made, I need you to carefully understand a very
serious caveat to that statement. This is critically important to your selling
career success. Some salespeople think that this means using whatever
scams or tricks they can come up with to make the sale in order to fulfill their
need to get paid. In other words, the sale at all costs. The end justifies the
means. Nothing could be further from the truth. True master professionals
know that it actually means doing everything in alignment with the customer’s
needs, feelings and thought processes.
This belief system is what gets them paid more and much more often. It is
also the belief system that allows them to look in the mirror each day and not
hate the person looking back at them. It is the belief system that doesn't lead
to practices which ultimately destroys their career, gets them sued or gets

them thrown into jail.
In other words, selling at mastery is never about your needs. It must always
be about the customer’s needs. Understand this reality. Ultimately, it is the
customer who always pays you, isn’t it? The more you fill the customers’
needs, the more your customers will fill your need to get paid! And as you
know, “Getting Paid is Good!!”.
I would be seriously amiss if I didn't elaborate on the concept that “it is always
the customer who pays you”.
There is a new phrase being thrown about in the United States and in Canada
by some politicians and some corporate leaders, which I believe tells only one
side of the story and therefore is somewhat misleading. That phrase is “the
job creators”.
As it is commonly utilized, it implies that the people who possess lots of
money are the only ones who create can jobs. This is very misleading and a
distortion of economic reality. It is not a real truth. It is an only an opinion. I
happen to hold different one. One that doesn't foster an 'us' against 'them'
mentality. I will offer up my point of view on who the job creators really are.
Having money and having the willingness to put that money into the economy
is a requirement of the job creating process. Individual people, companies
and governments with access to money can provide the “mechanism” that
provides jobs. They can build factories, retail outlets, restaurants, vacation
resorts or infrastructure projects. The list goes on.
Governments investment provides funding for road building, research and
defence projects, and social support projects. This creates jobs in an
economy without the actual need for consumer spending. These jobs are real
taxpaying jobs. There is a massive difference between investing in the future
and simply spending money for the sake of spending money.
Entrepreneurs, both individuals and companies, put up their risk capital and
hope for a return on their investment from the marketplace. It is a risky
speculative process. The process of beginning a business creates some jobs

and if the marketplace responds by buying the goods and services offered,
often more jobs will follow.
The key component to the effectiveness of this type of job creation is the
consumer. Remember what I wrote above, “Having money and the having
the willingness to put that money into the economy is a requirement of the job
creating process”.
So, who do I consider the real job creators in a capitalist based economy? I
believe it is average consumers who have a measure of, what is referred to
as, disposable income. These people can choose to spend that money in the
marketplace which then creates the demand for companies to increase supply
in order to meet that demand. And that activity will definitely create jobs.
However, remember this important fact, beyond the business start up, nothing
will happen to create more jobs until something is sold.
Without the customer making a purchase in your place of business, the
company will not earn the money necessary to cut you a check on payday.
The customer is the one who pays you by transferring some of their money to
you. The company only looks after that money until it is paid to you.
I strongly disagree with the term disposable income, by the way, It is actually
money that is surplus to necessary living expenses which can be directed to
'wants' instead of basic 'needs'. 'Disposable' denotes throwaway. Only a fool
chooses to throw money away. If you dispose of money, consider that you
might require an attitude adjustment. Failing that, you can send it to me. I
promise to send a thank you note for all cash over a hundred dollars.
One of the main reason the economies of the world are struggling to get back
after the 2008 recession is that so many consumers no longer have the
surplus cash or credit they once did. Energy costs have risen and wages
have not. Food costs have risen and wages have not. Some wages have
dropped or disappeared altogether because of outsourcing. . Housing values
dropped and people who had borrowed against the higher values have paid
the price.

Another reason is that everyone who has or had surplus money before, now
has a massive amount of stuff. Just look at the storage lockers that are
packed with stuff in every community. Cars are parked in driveways
everywhere because garages are packed to the ceiling with unused stuff.
People are inheriting stuff every day that they don't need and can't use. Stuff,
stuff and more stuff.
This economic situation has created a unique opportunity for master
professional salespeople. Customers with access to money or solid credit are
waking up en mass and becoming much more demanding, more selective on
who they spend their hard earned money with and what they spend it on.
Since it will be far more challenging to make a sale, the most competent sales
masters will have almost an unfair advantage on their competitors. My task
here is to begin to provide you with that advantage.
Before we go further, I’ve got to tell you something. If you are looking for
sales “tricks” or “sleazy tactics” to beat up your customers with, you’ve come
to the wrong place. You won’t find any of that here, nor will you find it in any
of my other ebooks. Master professionals don’t need or use those tactics.
They never put their reputation at risk to make a sale. They never have to put
their self esteem on the line. They never compromise their integrity to get
paid. It's all about personal choice.
If you need strategies, concepts and the professional tools of the trade to
build or expand your selling career, you clearly can’t afford not to pick up this
powerful and empowering knowledge.
The title of this chapter is, “What the role of a professional salesperson is and
what the role is not.” so let’s first examine what the role is not.
>>> It’s not trying to sell a product or service to someone who doesn’t
need or want it. This would seriously undermine your credibility and will
actually divert your time and attention away from the prospects who definitely
do want and need your products or services and who will purchase them
ultimately getting you paid.

>>> It’s not using blatant high pressure tactics. Blatant high pressure
tactics build fear and resentment in the customer’s mind. They will showcase
you as a stereotypical salesperson. The more you appear like the
salesperson stereotype, the higher the customer’s resistance level will be
toward you That makes good sense, doesn’t it? Sometimes I think a nice
cute little dog with a note around its neck would have more selling success
than some poorly trained high pressure salespeople have.
>>> It’s not about lying. I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why anyone who
sells for a living would lie to make a sale. I don’t understand why anyone who
has unlimited earning potential would risk having their reputation destroyed for
one sale when there are so many potential sales out there. I just can’t figure it
out, can you?
>>> It’s not about being a fast talker. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. This is
probably the number one stereotypical trait of salespeople today and may be
the one trait that keeps a lot of potentially very good salespeople out of the
industry. It has convinced a lot of people that they won’t be successful
salespeople because they’re not motor mouths. Nothing could be farther from
the truth.
>>> It’s not being a “know it all”. Having the attitude that you know it all
can’t help but put you in a position where you will be condescending toward
your customers. That’s not an very endearing quality is it?
>>> It’s not about putting your needs before the customers’ needs, but
that doesn’t mean being a door mat either. Professionals always put the
customer’s needs before their own because that’s what gets them paid.
However, that doesn’t mean being submissive. There is a lot more detail on
this in my ebook,“Selling at Mastery”.
>>> It’s not about being a show off or the center of attention. Being
entertaining can certainly be an integral part of the selling process, but always
keep in mind that it is not an end onto itself. It is only a tool to move you to
the sale, not something to get you nominated for an Oscar.

>>> It’s not about pumping up your ego. Resolve to put aside your ego
when you’re selling, just work to pump up your bank account. That will be far
better for your ego in the long run. Doesn’t that seem like a better idea to
you?
>>> It’s not about winning sales contests or sales awards. The contest
wins and the sales awards will come naturally as a result of your being a
master professional. Focusing on the contests and the rewards diverts your
attention from your customers’ needs to your own needs. This is not a good
thing! Stay laser focused on your customer and you will win more contests
and awards than your trophy case can handle.
By now you might actually be thinking, “Hey, but some of this stuff actually
works sometimes”. Yes, that’s true. Sometimes, some of it will actually work
to close a sale. However, these tactics will not work with the same success
ratios that you will experience by performing the job in the master professional
way. Plus, as an added bonus, you never find yourself stereotyped as the
“typical salesperson”. Won’t that be nice?
With the negatives out of the way, let’s take a look at what the role of a master
professional salesperson actually is.
>>> It’s about being a “Selection Specialist” who helps your customers
find the right product or service which will fill their needs and wants.
This will help them buy easily, without the application of pressure and will
serve to get you paid.
>>> Often, it is helping your customers justify their positive buying
decisions. Everyone wants to feel that their decisions are correct, don’t
they?
>>> It’s about always being truthful. No one likes a liar, not even the liar.
Nothing will destroy a sales career more quickly and more completely than
being branded a liar by either your customers, your peers or by your
managers.
>>> It’s about building a positive relationship with your customer.

People buy repeatedly from people they like and trust. Just look at your own
personal buying patterns. Do you do business with people you actually like
and can relate to or will you drive across town to deal with that lying piece of
garbage that ripped you off on your last visit?. That is hardly a tough call, is
it?
>>> It’s about being a great listener. This is a vitally important concept that
you should use at all times. If you ask questions and listen intently, your
customers will tell you absolutely everything you have to know to close the
sale. You will get to really know your customer and their needs. And, your
customer will be able to see that you are really serving them.
>>> It’s about knowing your product but being humble about it. It is
critical to become an expert in understanding your products or services. This
will prevent you from giving out inaccurate information. It will also prevent you
from being perceived as, at best, totally incompetent or at worst, a deliberate
liar. However, showing vulnerability now and again by checking on facts
you’re not a hundred percent sure of before answering a customer's question
or making a product statement doesn’t hurt either.
>>> It’s about always putting your customers’ needs ahead of your own.
This is certainly a big rule. Maybe, it could even be the biggest rule. If you
follow this without exception, you will avoid most, if not all, of the landmines
that can blow up sales. The customer may not always be right but the
customer always is boss and the customer always is the one to pay you. So
in the words of Kenny Rogers, “Never count your money when you’re sitting at
the table. There’ll be time enough for counting when the dealing’s done.”
>>> It’s about always keeping your word. This really is a form of not lying,
isn’t it? For goodness sake, if you tell somebody you are going to do
something, do it. It’s one of the greatest tools to build trust. Always keep your
word.
>>> It’s about being receptive about getting paid. This seems obvious,
doesn’t it? You have no idea how many people want, wish and grovel to get

paid and then aren’t at all receptive. You’ll see what I mean in chapter three.
In “Selling at Mastery”, I expand considerably on building positive actions and
avoiding the many pitfalls within the selling arena for the master professional
salesperson.,
$$$
Chapter 3
Who puts up the most obstacles to the sale?
Wow, that’s a no brainer, isn’t it? It’s got to be those darn pesky customers,
doesn’t it? Wrong! Wrong! And wrong some more! In fact that couldn’t be
further from the truth.
Within “Selling at Mastery” I disclose and explain this marketplace reality.
Only five things must be in place for an sale on a major item to take place.
Yes, only five simple things. There are no exceptions to this rule. It is also a
marketplace reality that the vast majority of customers who enter the
marketplace in search of a product or service ultimately do make a purchase
within a relatively short period of time.
Now, here is a very interesting point. Most of the time, the customer will deal
with several different salespeople before that purchase is made. Are they
shopping around? Yes, but not primarily for the lowest price. Most customers
shop around for the right product or service but also for a salesperson they
trust, and certainly someone they like, before they will spend their hard
earned cash.
That simple knowledge that they’re shopping for a salesperson as well as the
product or service can give you a tremendous advantage over your
competition.
Here’s why. Poorly trained salespeople do and say some really, really dumb
things, don’t they? How many salespeople have lost your personal business,
in the past, just by saying or doing something totally stupid? When a poorly
trained or amateur salesperson messes up, the customer is sent off by that
salesperson to shop, not for a better deal, but for a more professional

salesperson. Without a doubt, this happens over and over again every single
day.
So there you have it. It is certainly the salespeople who put up most of the
obstacles to doing business. Sure, customer’s ask questions and offer up
some objections, ask some hard nosed questions and even make up some
excuses, but those are things that a master professional has learned to
handle and use to get closer to the sale.
Yes sadly, it truly is undertrained salespeople who put up most of the
obstacles. This marketplace condition can give you a real leg up on your
competition because once you learn to identify and know where the
landmines are buried you can avoid stepping on them and eliminate the need
for the customer to shop around for another salesperson. That will get you
paid and you know,Getting Paid is Good!!”.
Now knowing the fact that most salespeople are undertrained, it begs this
important question, “Why are all these salespeople out there totally content
with just being average or maybe worse?”
There are a number of reasons, some I’ll share here while others are revealed
and developed more fully in my much more extensive ebook, “Selling at
Mastery”.
Let’s start by looking at a couple of these reasons, right here.
These salespeople don’t have a conscience awareness of what they are
doing because they are unconsciously conditioned. I’ll share this with
you here and now. Until you become personally aware that you are missing
the mark in any area of your life or in your career, you will not be motivated to
change your behavior, will you?
People continue their behavioral patterns either because those patterns serve
a personal need at some level or because the person has been conditioned to
believe that the results of their particular behaviors or actions are acceptable
and working. Think of the things you do automatically everyday and you will
quickly understand what I mean. Let’s examine some simple examples.

You might start your day by having breakfast or by having a glass of orange
juice because it makes you feel energized as you head out the door or you
start your day by having breakfast or by having a glass of orange juice
because that’s what your Mom conditioned you to do as you were growing up.
You greet new customers with a smile on your face because it generally
results in getting a smile back and you like it when people are happy around
you or you greet new customers with a smile on your face because your boss
told you to do it or he’d fire your sorry butt if you didn’t. Part two in each
example is outside conditioning. Part one is internal, personal choice.
Maybe you have been conditioned by society’s norms or by the norms of the
industry that you’re in. By that I simply mean, you have bought in to the
limitations that others want to put onto your life. Never let anyone put
limitations on your life, including yourself.
I’ve stated it before and I’ll state it again, it’s not about simply right or wrong, it
is about what works and what doesn’t work. It’s also about the choices that
you have over your life and over your career. Remember, as a master
professional salesperson your number one job is to get paid.
To battle back against ineffective outside conditioning controlling your life and
your career, it stands to reason that you have to seriously think about the
actions that you take in your life and on the job. Then you must ask yourself
this, “Does what I’m doing still work best for me or does it not?”. If it does,
keep on doing it for sure. But, if it doesn’t, you can choose to change it!
Wow, what a concept!
Remember, continuing to do things the same way over and over and
expecting different results is Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity and it
occurs to me that Einstein was no dummy.
All your behaviors and your actions are performed, either to serve a purpose
for you, or to serve a purpose for someone else. The decision on whether it
makes sense to continue performing any of these actions or behaviors rests
entirely with you. When you understand this concept you become totally

empowered to take charge of your career and your life.
When you accept and understand that you are externally conditioned, you will
then have the awareness to start questioning that conditioning and to begin
changing the things that no longer work in your life or in your selling career.
This make’s sense, doesn’t it?
These salespeople have not gotten themselves properly trained.
You will notice that I wrote, “these salespeople have not got themselves
properly trained”. I said “these salespeople ” because “they” are ultimately
responsible for their own careers. It has always absolutely amazed me how
some salespeople choose to wait for someone else to be responsible for
training them.
What the heck is that all about? When I’ve asked them the question, I
generally get an answer something like this. “Hey, I’m working for this
company, they should train me, shouldn’t they?” It is an interesting answer,
isn’t it? While I agree, it is a sound business decision for companies to
properly train their salespeople, I still have to ask, why would anyone willingly
volunteer to give someone else the power over their earning and career
potential?
When I have talked to business owners, they often tell me that they have cut
down on the training that they are offering because they’ve found that they
often will train people only to have them move on to another company just a
short time later. That’s often true. Company loyalty isn’t what it used to be, is
it?
Most salespeople do not take personal responsibility for their own training
while a growing number of companies, especially smaller ones have reduced
the training they are willing to pay for. Those are two very real problems
facing the profession today.
So, what’s the result? The result is a serious decline in customer satisfaction
because of poorly trained and undertrained salespeople, struggling to make a
living. The proof is all around us, isn’t it?

OK, that’s the problem, now what’s the solution? Thankfully, it’s pretty darn
simple. But first, anyone who wants to improve this situation needs to
understand this basic concept. If you do already understand this, you’re well
on your way to success. If you don’t grasp this yet, please pay close
attention, it will change your life. Here it is!!
>>> Everyone who is in the workforce today operates his or her own
personal services business.
Whether you are an executive or a street sweeper, an airline pilot or work on
an assembly line, a police officer, a secretary or a soldier, the fact is that you
trade your personal time, your personal expertise and your passion for your
income.
Therefore, it stands to reason that the primary assets of your personal
services business are simply your time, your expertise (i.e. knowledge and
ability) and your passion (enthusiasm). That makes sense, doesn’t it?
You and everyone that you compete against for your livelihood have exactly
twenty four hours in the day, right? Therefore, there is no advantage or
disadvantage for anyone based solely on time.
Now before we move on, I’m going to share a couple points which I would like
you to ponder. You know, … the things that make you say, Hmm.
First, the only person who you will ever truly know every detail about for your
entire life is you! And second, the only person that you will ever truly work for
over your entire working career is you! Hmm,
Now once those realizations sink in, it becomes really, really empowering .
Why? Because it puts everything you do in your life within your personal
control.
OK, now back to business. “Time” is a level playing field for everyone while
your personal expertise and your passion are other matters entirely, aren’t
they? They are, truly, what separate the master professionals from the
amateurs, the ladies from the girls, the men from the boys, the horses from
the donkeys, the eagles from the turkeys, the sharks from the minnows, the

tigers from the kittens, the pit bulls from the … sorry, that's enough already. I
got so excited and got carried away. You understand it, don’t you?
Now, I'll ask you this. If you understand that you are always earning your
personal income by working for yourself, why in the world would you expect
someone else to be totally responsible to train you? That concept is quite
absurd. It just doesn’t make any sense, does it?
I do realize one potential situation does exist. It’s kind of the chicken and egg
thing. A salesperson might say, I really would like to improve my selling skills
but I don’t have the money to buy this book, go to this seminar or take this
selling course, right now. This might be true or it just might be an excuse.
Only that particular salesperson knows for sure. I do know something though.
If the expertise doesn’t improve, the income won’t improve either.
So here is the simple solution I referred to. Salespeople need to upgrade
their selling skills and apply what they learn. Back ten, fifteen and twenty
years ago, when professional sales training was usually only available
through pricy books or even pricier live seminars costing hundreds or even
thousands of dollars, I would provide this advice. “If you truly don’t have the
money to take a sales course, consider one of these options”.
>>> Consider borrowing the money. When you improve your expertise and
put your new found knowledge into action, you should easily be able to repay
the loan.
>>> Pay by credit card and break up the payments.
>>> Go to your boss or your company and ask them to pay for your training.
If you don’t ask, you can’t get.
>>> Go to your boss or your company and ask them to advance the money
which you can pay back out of future earnings. Again, If you don’t ask, you
can’t get.
>>> Ask your company to supply extra sales training in exchange for a
commitment from you to stay with the company for a specific period of time.
The good news for salespeople is that times have changed. It no longer costs

a small fortune to acquire effective sales training. Thanks to technology, the
internet, ebooks and affordable online reading devices there is a vast
abundance of knowledge available to you for free or at relatively little cost. All
you need to do is actively seek it out.
For example, I am offering my complete, nothing held back, “Selling at
Mastery” ebook for a tiny fraction, about two percent, of what I charged for my
live, week long sales training seminars, which actually covered far less
material than my ebook does.
The ebook format has allowed me to offer and share concepts, strategies and
tools developed and gathered over my forty five plus year career of selling
and sales managing with millions of people who I could never have reached
live because of geographical location and financial costs. Inexpensive
training options are now readily available online and in physical libraries.
Improve your skills to improve your career and your paycheck. The only other
option you have is to stay stuck where you are. Excuses aren't valid
anymore.
The other major asset in your personal services business is your passion or
enthusiasm. I really believe that it is an underlying part of every person’s
makeup to be the best that they can be and to improve their personal lot in
life, if they know how to do that. Along with that comes the basic human
desire to feel happy. How does this concept work for you? Do you agree?
I also believe that if somebody doesn’t feel passionate or happy about
something, it’s often because they don’t feel that they are successful enough
or competent enough in their performance concerning that area of their life or
their career. I have found, that much of the time, just an increase in
knowledge and expertise will unleash an enormous boost in enthusiasm and
passion, not to mention the feelings of both success and happiness.
$$$
Chapter 4
Some of the Self Limiting Behaviors Some Salespeople Engage in and

Why They Do So.
Before we can hope to be outstanding master professional salespeople,
before we can influence our customer’s behavior, we often have to adjust our
own personal behaviors. I really hope the concepts discussed in this chapter
cause you to do some serious contemplating.
If you do, you might very well come away with your eyes really opened up
allowing you to soar to the top of the selling field. Because I’m a long time
sales trainer, I’ll be talking about the behavior of some self limiting behaviors
which I have observed in salespeople. Please keep in mind that these
behaviors are in no way limited to salespeople. They affect people in every
walk of life, in virtually all segments of society.
By no means is this a complete list. None the less, I want to identify some of
those self limiting behaviors and their underlying causes right now.
>>> Always looking for someone or something 'out there' to blame for their
situation in life.
>>> Often volunteering to give up control of their lives and careers to
someone else.
>>> Engaging in self destructive activities.
>>> Not living a well balanced lifestyle.
>>> Not believing that they are deserving of success, or said another way,
believing they are unworthy.
>>> Limiting their potential by procrastinating, again, said another way, by
failing to take timely action.
For my purposes here, these are enough examples. There are many more in
the “Selling at Mastery” where they will be explored in much greater depth but
certainly these examples should be helpful to you now.
I believe that there are five main causes for these behaviors and I want to just
touch on each one in turn in relation to the behaviors themselves. The five
are:
>>> The failure to take personal responsibility.

>>> The culture of entitlement that many people live in today.
>>> Conditioning.
>>> Low self esteem.
>>> Fear.
The failure to take personal responsibility. Looking for someone or
something out there to blame for their situation in life” is the absolute, number
one favorite pastime of those folks who are failing to take personal
responsibility for their lives.
Now I have to tell you something. When you choose to put responsibility on
someone else, you are also choosing to give them all of your personal power,
total control over your life experiences and your financial success or lack of it.
Think about it. Isn’t that true?
In fact, just look around you and you will see that the real winners in sales,
business, or in life itself, almost never blame others when there are setbacks.
On the other hand, they can’t wait to thank others who have helped them
accomplish their goals.
The 'also rans' in sales and in life by comparison, almost never take personal
responsibility for their situations, are constantly looking for someone to blame
for their failures while almost always taking full credit for their occasional
successes. Hmm.
Winners never want to give away their power while the losers are seldom
aware of the incredible amount of power that they can have once they take
personal ownership of their lives.
The culture of entitlement that many people live in today.
Volunteering to give control of their lives and careers to someone else is not a
healthy thing to do. This behavior often has its roots in the culture of
entitlement that permeates much of society today.
This is the conscious or subconscious belief system held by some people that
essentially says, “If something exists out in the world, I am not only entitled to
have it but someone “out there”, other than myself, is expected provide it for

me, preferably, right now!. Wow, what a concept! Do you know anyone like
that?
That is something like expecting your dog to fetch your morning newspaper.
While it’s perfectly acceptable to hope and dream, the real problem with living
life with this philosophy is that any time Rover doesn’t fetch the newspaper,
you don’t get to read it. So you ultimately end up with only three choices.,
First, stay uninformed about the news. Second, get up and get the
newspaper yourself. Or third, get angry and frustrated and kick the dog.
Hmm, which makes the most sense to you?
Who has the real power when the decision as to whether or not you’ll read the
newspaper rests with the dog? That is a bit oversimplified, but I hope you get
the message. Who’s responsible for your life?
Engaging in self destructive activities
This is probably the greatest destroyer of careers, relationships, health and
ultimately of lives. We all know what they are, don’t we? They’re things like:
>>> Drinking too much.
>>> Doing drugs that alter your consciousness.
>>> Driving carelessly.
>>> Being intolerant of others to the point of confrontation.
>>> Being a workaholic.
>>> Eating too much or eating without regard to proper nutrition.
There are plenty of other things that we could add. I would guess that it would
be fair to say that we’ve all engaged in one or more of these things at some
points in our lives and maybe even still do today. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that we can change all those activities once we have the
awareness that we have all the power to do so. Not one of these activities will
ever serve you positively in the longterm.
We also have to understand that virtually all those behavioral patterns are
either rooted in fear or low self esteem. Here’s the absolute truth. You can
conquer all your crippling fears and elevate your self esteem. The good news

is, in “Selling at Mastery”, I have strategies and concepts that will help put you
on the right track to accomplishing both of these objectives!
Now, before I go any further, I’d like you to understand this. I’m not here to
judge any of those activities for you in your personal life. Your life is yours to
live as you choose. My only purpose is to invite you to ask yourself a
personal question in the event that you have an activity or two which could be
considered potentially destructive in your life.
This question is, “Do these activities improve my position in life and move me
closer to my goals or do they not”? In other words, I'm not asking you to
decide whether they are right or wrong, legal or illegal, moral or immoral, but
rather does the activity work to move you forward to your goals as a master
professional salesperson and a person of integrity? It’s always your choice,
isn’t it?
Not living a balanced lifestyle.
Absolutely every living creature in nature,including human beings, live in a
series of cycles. They achieve peak performance when they are in balance
and healthy. Work, recreation, rest and nutrition, all in balance, will provide
success, harmony and happiness in your life.
Every creature in nature lives its life in relative balance. Every creature that
is, with the exception of human beings. Why do you think that might be? In
the animal kingdom, creatures work, rest, play and eat in balance. Otherwise
they won’t survive long as individuals. Humans often get out of balance due
to submitting to the influences of outside conditioning.
As a society, we’ve been conditioned to believe that we need to work harder
and longer in order to succeed. This advise comes to us from many different
directions. Some people will offer this advise to help you, while others clearly
offer it to help themselves.
Because of this conditioning, many people today are working incredibly long
hours. The truth however, may very well be that the answer to overall
personal success could be simply to learn more, become smarter and then

effectively apply the newly found knowledge. Hmm. In fact, some people are
so busy working hard and long just to scratch out a living that they have no
time left to learn more and get smarter so they can actually move ahead. Isn’t
that right?
For many people, getting enough needed rest sometimes becomes an issue.
Sleep is often traded for more waking hours that will allow more time for work
or recreational activities. This isn’t necessarily a great trade off. Those who
work or even play while there are fatigued generally perform at substandard
levels and are much more susceptible to accidents and injury.
I’m not going to try to tell you how much sleep you need, your body will tell
you that, if you pay attention. Listen to your body and give it the rest it
requires for optimal performance.
Recreation is another critical area of our lives. Just look at the word itself, it is
re - creation or re - create. It is the time to put our lives back into balance.
We even see animals taking time out for play and fun. When we don’t
recreate, we begin to feel deprived or burned out and that is neither a good or
nor a productive feeling.
Proper nutrition is an area that’s really out of balance in our society today and
it especially affects those in the selling field. Gulping down fast food on the
run isn’t uncommon for salespeople. Neither are missed or late meals. I
speak from personal experience. My eating habits were awful at many times
through my career until I became fully aware of what I was doing to myself
and chose to make some changes.
Now when I speak of proper nutrition, I’m not just referring to physical
nutrition. We have to feed our spirit as well. Regardless of our personal
belief systems, we all have a spirit, our mind to nourish. Please don’t neglect
to nourish yours.
Not believing that they are deserving of success or said another way,
believing they are unworthy.
This is probably the greatest limiter of the human spirit that exists today. Low

self esteem absolutely stifles the human spirit. Of all the things that I observe
in the world today, the thing that bugs me the second most is seeing people
trying to condition another human being into believing that they are not
worthy.
The thing that bothers me even more is seeing some people buying into this
total destructive and self limiting concept. Of course you’re worthy! You are
absolutely as worthy as every other person on the planet. No, you are not
more worthy and no, you are not less worthy. You are equally worthy, period!
If you’re an American you might want to remember that old piece of paper
with a pretty good message inscribed on it. If you’re not American, it should
resonate with you anyway. It just makes good sense to me.
That message is; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Happiness”. If you aren’t familiar, the old piece of paper, it is the United
States Declaration of Independence.
So where do all these ideas and feelings of unworthiness come from? This
list contains some really interesting sources of people pushing these ideas
into our lives.
>>> Sometimes it is our school teachers.
>>> Sometimes it is military officers.
>>> Sometimes it is sports coaches.
>>> Sometimes it is our “friends” and peers.
>>> Sometimes it is our parents.
>>> Sometimes it is our religious leaders.
>>> Sometimes it is our employers.
>>> Sometimes it is even our spouses or partners.
I won’t get into specific examples for each one here, but I will ask you to do a
little mental exercise. Look at each one of those sources and see if you can
come up with at least two examples from each source over the years when

you received a message suggesting that you were “unworthy”.
Why do these folks attempt to condition anyone to the concept of
unworthiness? In my opinion, they try it for only one, and perhaps both, of
two reasons, they seek to establish control over that person or do it for control
over the person's money. Think about concept for a moment and see if it
makes sense to you.
If you are feeling unworthy, you will be less of a threat to their power or their
money and certainly less likely to hang on to your own money and power as a
result.
If you have any feeling of unworthiness, I’d like to suggest that you begin
working on your own declaration of independence so that you can move away
from this notion as quickly as possible and move forward to the successes
you deserve.
Limiting personal potential through procrastination.
This certainly the activity or should I say inactivity, which holds countless
people back from being all that they can be. I believe that procrastination is
totally rooted in fear in many of its forms.
>>> Fear of loss including the fear of dying.
>>> Fear of failure.
>>> Fear of pain, both physical and emotional.
>>> Even fear of success.
>>> Fear of change.
The good news is that all these fears can be eliminated totally or at least
controlled much of the time with proper awareness. There are tools within
“Selling at Mastery” designed to put you on the right track to controlling
irrational fears and also to help raise low self esteem.
Now, I am about to share, what I believe is the one underlying reason that
customers buy anything, large or small, and it’s not at all what you think it
might be. Once you fully understand this concept you will unlock a
tremendous edge in your selling career!

$$$
Chapter 5
The Deepest Underlying Motivator That Virtually Every Buyer Brings to
the Table When They Make Any Purchase.
When I have asked some salespeople, and some business owner as well,
what they thought was the driving force behind the majority of purchases large
and small, their most consistent answer has always been “the lowest price”.
Are you surprised? I’m not, companies and advertising agencies, while trying
to find a competitive edge, have been trying to condition customers to this
motivator for years, haven’t they?
Some other answers to my question included quality, after sale service and
the reputation of the company or brand. There were others of course but
those were definitely the main thoughts given. Were any of these your
particular choice?
Now here is the interesting twist. While we do know that a low price is
definitely a major factor to most buyers on most purchases, every single
survey of buyers that I have ever seen has never ranked price as the main
reason customers buy any particular product or service.
Now if I were a salesperson in the trenches every day, I think I’d want to have
a real close look at this information. It seems to me that this would suggest
that the primary focus of the majority of salespeople will be either to try to
provide the lowest price or to try to defend a higher one. (Dare I say the old
80/20 rule may be at work here). 70-80% of salespeople will be primarily
focused on price in one fashion or another, simply because they believe that
is where the customer's primary interest lies.
Yet, in spite of all the advertisements trying to condition both customers and
salespeople toward low price as being the dominant buying motive, all the
surveys tell us that price really isn’t the number one issue in the minds of the
majority of consumers. This tells me that up to 80% of salespeople are
making a potentially critical error when dealing with their customers, since

they are not in sync with their customers’ number one buying motivator.